Chapter Thirteen

"Go to the police station. Now!" Evan shouted in Marlie's ear. "There's a Lakewood PD substation in the back of the mall next to Dick's Sporting Goods."

"We're already in the parking lot," she answered between heavy breaths. "In the front of the mall. We're going to my truck. We're almost there."

So was Manello. She'd caught sight of him closing the gap fast.

Cursing came through the phone. "I'm leaving my office now. I'll call the PD and send patrol cars to you. Where exactly in the lot are you?"

She looked back over her shoulder, biting back the urge to scream. "Target is behind us." A mall security car drove slowly in their direction, its amber lights flashing. With the phone still in her hand, she jumped up and down, frantically waving her arms to flag down the driver.

He stopped and rolled down the passenger window. "Are you all right, ma'am?"

"Could you drive us to my truck?" Without waiting for an answer, she dropped her phone in her handbag, then opened the rear door and ushered Noah into the back seat. She tossed the bags on the seat as she slid in and slammed the door shut. "I think that man is following us." She pointed to Manello, who'd stopped to watch them from about a hundred feet away. "Just keep going straight. I'll show you where my truck is."

She twisted in the seat to see Manello walking away in the opposite direction. "We'll be okay." She squeezed Noah's hands. His fingers were ice cold, and the look of stark fear in his eyes tore at her heart.

The security cop watched her from the rearview mirror. "Do you need me to call the police?"

"No, just drive! Please," she added more gently, not wanting to sound as panicked as she actually was. "We just want to get out of here."

"Marlie!" came a muffled, angry voice. From inside her handbag. Evan was still on the line.

"Over there." She pointed to her truck. "That old green pickup." She fished the keys from her pocket, grabbed the shopping bags, and pushed open the door. "Noah, let's go. Thank you," she said to the security cop. Before letting Noah out, she searched the lot, in case Manello had skirted around and managed to see them.

Noah scooted out behind her.

The security cop looked at her from between the headrests. "Are you sure you don't want me to call the—"

She slammed the door shut, and they bolted to her pickup. Breathing heavily again, she tossed the shopping bags into the bed of the truck. "Come this way." She waved Noah over to the driver's side and shoved the key into the lock. The second the door opened, she all but pushed him inside, waiting another half second for him to scoot over to the passenger side.

Marlie started the engine and yanked the truck into reverse. Driving a bit faster than she should through a mall parking lot, she headed onto Colfax Avenue and floored it.

We made it . That didn't keep her stomach from twisting into knots.

Noah had slumped in the seat and wrapped his arms around his chest. She reached over and gave his shoulder a quick squeeze. "Everything's going to be okay." She hoped so, anyway. What she ought to do was tell Evan where they were and that they were safe, but along with the shopping bags, she'd hurled her handbag containing her phone in the bed of the truck.

Ten minutes later, she turned into her apartment building's parking lot. There were no parking spaces in front of the building, except the empty fire zone. Not giving a shit, she screeched to a stop in the striped fire zone, parking directly in front of the No Parking sign.

"Let's go!" She turned off the engine, hopped out, and raced around the hood to grab Noah's hand and drag him to the door of the building.

They climbed the stairs to the second floor. Only then did she realize she'd completely forgotten their bags in the truck. Getting Noah inside to safety was the priority.

The only sound in the stairwell was their heavy breathing and pounding feet. At the top of the stairs, she shoved open the heavy fire door and raced with Noah down the hall to her apartment. Once inside, she slammed the door shut and twisted the deadbolt. The heavy sigh she made next was louder than a balloon losing air all at once.

"Marlie?" On the sofa, Noah hugged a pillow to his chest.

"Oh, sweetie." She sat beside him, opening her arms. She held him tightly, rocking both of them. "I won't let anything happen to you. I promise." God, this was all her fault.

Protective urges she'd thought lost forever swept over her like a tidal wave, stronger than ever before.

I'll keep him safe. No matter what.

No matter the consequences.

Pounding came from the other side of the door. Marlie flinched. Noah jerked his head up, and she pulled him to his feet. "Go to your room. Lock the door, and don't come out unless I tell you to. Go. Now!" She pushed him into the hallway, waiting until she heard the lock click.

More pounding came from the door. If Manello was out there, she'd—

What? She needed a weapon.

In the kitchen, she grabbed the biggest knife she could find and gripped it tightly, raising it over her shoulder. The pounding continued.

"Marlie! Open the door! It's Evan."

"Oh God." She dropped the knife and flinched again when it whacked on the kitchen tile.

She raced to the door, twisted the deadbolt, and flung open the door. Vaguely, she registered Blue and two other men flanking Evan, both of them nearly as big as he was. Behind them stood two uniformed officers. She threw herself against Evan, wrapping her arms around his back.

He held her tightly. "Are you okay?" he asked.

With her head pressed firmly to his rock-solid chest, she nodded, taking a deep breath that smelled of him. Woodsy and spicy, clean and fresh. "Yes." Now that he was here.

His chest expanded, and warm breath blew against the side of her face. "I've got you." He dropped a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

Marlie nearly sighed out loud at how good it felt and wondered what his lips would feel like on hers, and how he'd taste if she opened her mouth to his. If only this was another place and another time. If only she hadn't been so adamant about getting Noah set up for school.

I'm a terrible person, totally unfit to be Noah's legal guardian.

He pulled away enough to look down at her. "Where's Noah?"

Blue trotted in and went right to Noah's bedroom door. The two men standing beside Evan exchanged looks of relief and something else she couldn't decipher. Curiosity?

"You need us?" one of the cops asked.

"We're good," Evan said. "Thanks."

"Uh." She cleared her throat, letting her hands fall to her sides. Maybe she shouldn't have latched on to him like a koala hugging a tree. "He's in his room."

"Are you sure it was Manello?" Evan asked.

She nodded. "Yes. I remember the driver's license photo you showed us. It was definitely h—"

Noah had come into the living room. His face was ashen. In one hand, he held a baseball mitt.

"What's wrong?" She rushed to him. "Where did you get that mitt?"

"It was on my bed. It's mine."

Evan knelt in front of Noah. "What do you mean it's your mitt? I thought you left your mitt at the camp."

Noah swallowed. "I did. This is my mitt." He turned it over. Scrawled in faded blue ink was his name. Noah Lund. "This was inside." He handed Evan a small white note card.

Marlie read the typed words, and her throat went dry.

Keep quiet, or Caleb will suffer.

…

Evan curled his hand into a fist. Slamming it into the wall was the only thing that would curb his temper ready to blow like a volcano. At least Noah and Marlie hadn't been here when Manello had broken in. "Put the mitt on the coffee table. Don't touch it again."

The kid managed a barely perceptible nod. The look of terror on his face and the one of supreme worry on Marlie's were knife strikes to his heart. She obviously blamed herself, but she shouldn't. Ultimately, this was his fault. In more ways than one.

Today, he'd gotten so tied up at the office, he'd never gotten back to her. And yesterday, there must have been a tail from the farmers market to her apartment building, and he'd missed it. Missed it because he'd been having too much fun letting himself enjoy the time with Marlie and Noah.

He'd fucked up. Royally.

"What are you going to do?" Marlie urged Noah to the sofa and sat down with him.

Blue nudged his way between the table and sofa, resting his head on Noah's lap.

"Deck, can you get a forensic team here ASAP? I want this entire place dusted for prints." It was a longshot, but protocol had to be followed and Manello—or whoever broke in—could have been sloppy. Given his burglary prior, he was betting on Manello.

"You got it." Deck pulled a phone from his back pocket.

"Brett, check with the Lakewood PD substation at the mall. See where they're at with the cameras in front of Target."

"On it." Brett's phone was already in his hand.

Turning back to Marlie and Noah, he said, "Try not to touch anything else. Someone's coming to check for fingerprints. They'll want to take both of yours, so they can single out whoever broke in."

His heart had finally slowed enough to let him think straight. After getting Marlie's call he'd grabbed Brett and Deck, then hauled ass here. Lakewood PD had raced to the mall parking lot, not finding Marlie's truck or any sign of Manello.

"It's not safe here," he said, looking from Marlie to Noah. "For either of you." Knowing how easily someone had broken in, he wasn't about to leave them here. The question was where to take them. The agency might spring for a safehouse. He glanced at his watch. One o'clock. As Noah stroked Blue's ears, the stiffness in the kid's body slowly started to ease.

"I don't want to go to Wyoming," Noah said, still petting Blue.

"I agree." Marlie nodded. "It's too dangerous to take him up there."

"I don't want Caleb to get hurt because of me," Noah added without looking up.

"Listen to me." Evan knelt on the other side of the table. "Whatever happens to Caleb and those other kids, that's not on you. Do you understand? That's not. On. You. Don't ever think any of this is your fault."

It was on him . From the moment he'd broken down the door to Manello's basement to find Noah and those photos, responsibility for the lives of those other children fell squarely on his shoulders.

He was torn. He liked Noah and wished he could say they didn't have to go to Wyoming, but they did. It was the only way, and there was still no guarantee they'd ever find the camp. Sammy's property lookup would help narrow down where they should search first. All he'd need was for Noah to ID the place from the outside, not to go in. He'd never risk the boy's life that way.

"Tech team's on its way," Deck said.

Evan nodded his thanks.

"Lakewood PD is still working on the camera footage," Brett said.

Again, Evan nodded, this time to Brett. "I'm postponing our drive to Wyoming until tomorrow. Can you shadow us?" Given what had happened today, couldn't hurt to have Brett and Blaze with them. He'd ask Deck, too, but the man was getting hitched next week. Tori would beat Evan with a stick if he kept hijacking her fiancé a week before the wedding.

"Of course," Brett answered.

"Postponing?" Marlie's eyes blazed, and her lips parted—lips he'd insanely wanted to kiss moments ago. "Try canceling . You can't seriously still be thinking of taking Noah to Wyoming. You made me his guardian, and I won't allow it. It's too dangerous, and didn't you hear what he said? He doesn't want to go anymore."

"It won't be dangerous," he assured her. "Brett will be backing us up. Besides, we're not taking him inside the camp. We just need to find it, and we can't do that without his help. Trust me, even if he can lead us to the front door, we're not gonna go in there. The last thing we want is for them to see us snooping around. We also can't risk them pulling up stakes and taking the children with them, or—" He didn't want to say the words.

Or worse .

"Marlie?" Noah sat up straighter. A look of determination had replaced the look of fear. "I changed my mind. I wanna go to Wyoming. I need to help find Caleb and the others."

Marlie's lips flattened. "I can't believe you're considering this, especially after what just happened."

Part of him couldn't believe it, either. "There's no other way to find these kids."

Silence stretched between them, so long he was sure she'd shut him down, effectively ending his chances of finding the camp.

" Promise me you'll protect him."

"I will." He meant it with every fiber of his being. Which brought him to his next affirmation. "As soon as the tech team is done here, you and Noah pack your bags."

Her eyes narrowed on him. "Are we staying at a hotel?"

"No. You're staying with me."